IPBar

A lightweight macOS menu bar app that shows the IP address of every active network interface — Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and VPN — plus your public IP with reverse DNS, country flag, and ISP.

• All interfaces — enumerated via getifaddrs(), with friendly names (Wi-Fi / Ethernet) resolved through SystemConfiguration.
• VPN aware — utun / ppp / ipsec tunnels are detected and tagged VPN automatically when a tunnel has a routable address.
• IPv4 is the headline — the big number is always IPv4. IPv6 is shown as a secondary line. If an interface has no IPv4, its IPv6 becomes the headline.
• Public IP + reverse DNS — shows your public IPv4 (and IPv6 if reachable) with the PTR hostname, like …myaisfibre.com, plus a country flag and ISP.
• Resilient public-IP lookup — provider fallback chain (ipwho.is → ipinfo.io → ipapi.co for geo/ISP; ipify → icanhazip for the IP) with a cached last-known value so the flag/ISP never vanish when one provider rate-limits.
• Wi-Fi details — SSID (with Location access), signal strength + bars, channel, band, PHY mode (Wi-Fi 6, etc.), security, and Tx rate, via CoreWLAN.
• DNS & config — per interface: the IPv4 config method (DHCP / Manual badge), plus DNS servers and search domains (the effective, DHCP-provided values) behind a tap-to-expand DNS disclosure.
• Network diagnostics — a popup that pings the gateway and public anchors (1.1.1.1 / 8.8.8.8), queries each configured DNS server with dig, and times a DNS resolution — each with latency + reachability.
• LAN scanner — discovers devices on the local network from the ARP cache (with reverse DNS and gateway/self tagging); a Deep Scan ping-sweeps the subnet to find more.
• Route table / open ports — sortable popup tables (ports mapped to process).
• Hosts file editor — view and edit /etc/hosts with an admin auth prompt.
• Click to copy — click any address to copy it to the clipboard.
• Privacy masking — independent click-to-mask toggles across the panel: the hostname (tap the header), each interface's IP / MAC / subnet / gateway / DNS (tap its name), the public IP + ISP (tap "Public IP"), and the Wi-Fi SSID / BSSID (tap the signal icon). Click again to reveal — handy for screenshots.
• History — records public-IP / primary-interface changes over time.
• Auto refresh — re-scans automatically when the network path changes (NWPathMonitor), plus a manual Refresh button.

Requires macOS 14+, Xcode 16+ (Swift toolchain).

open IPBar.xcodeproj

Select the My Mac run destination and hit ▶. The app target produces a real .app bundle (bundle id com.nonbytes.ipbar, LSUIElement = YES), so it runs as a proper menu-bar-only app and stays resident.

Don't run the SwiftPM executable directly (e.g. swift run or hitting ▶ on a bare Package target) — without a bundle identifier the menu-bar status item can't register and the process exits immediately.

./build.sh                 # compiles, bundles & signs IPBar.app (see Distribution)
open IPBar.app             # launch (icon appears in the menu bar)
cp -R IPBar.app /Applications/   # install for everyday use

.build/release/IPBar --dump            # interfaces + public IP (Wi-Fi line included)
.build/release/IPBar --routes          # routing table
.build/release/IPBar --ports           # listening ports + owning process
.build/release/IPBar --diag            # DNS servers + ping/dig diagnostics
.build/release/IPBar --lan             # LAN devices from the ARP cache
.build/release/IPBar --lan --deep      # ping-sweep first, then list (~10s)
# or, once installed:
/Applications/IPBar.app/Contents/MacOS/IPBar --dump

For each interface (and for the public IP):

headline = first IPv4  ??  first IPv6      # IPv4 wins; IPv6 only if no IPv4
others   = remaining IPv4 + all IPv6       # shown small, monospaced

Link-local IPv6 (fe80::…) and loopback are filtered out as noise.

IPBar.xcodeproj          Xcode app project (App target → IPBar.app)
Package.swift            SwiftPM manifest (same sources, for CLI builds)
Sources/IPBar/Core.swift Models, getifaddrs scanner, public-IP service, view model
Sources/IPBar/App.swift  @main entry, MenuBarExtra, SwiftUI views
Info.plist               Bundle metadata (LSUIElement = menu-bar-only)
build.sh                 SwiftPM compile + assemble + sign IPBar.app
Tools/make_icon.swift    Renders IPBar.iconset (the "IP" location-pin icon)
Tools/package_dmg.sh     Builds IPBar.dmg; notarizes when a Developer ID is set

Both build systems compile the same Sources/IPBar/*.swift and use the same Info.plist, so they stay in sync.

• Launch at login (SMAppService)
• Menu bar shows: icon only · public IP · local IP (text next to the icon). The menu-bar glyph is the same "IP" location pin as the app icon, and fills in solid when a VPN is active.
• Auto-refresh: off / 15s / 30s / 1m / 5m
• Show Wi-Fi details (signal, channel, etc.). Reading the SSID needs Location access (macOS 14+ gates it); the other Wi-Fi fields work without it.
• Show DNS, search domains & config (DHCP/Manual badge) — on by default.
• Show loopback / show link-local IPv6 toggles
• Public IP: enable/disable the lookup, optional ISP / country (resolved through a provider fallback chain), and notify on public-IP change. Turn both off to keep every lookup on-device.

Per interface the panel also shows the subnet (/24), gateway, MAC, DNS / search domains (tap "DNS"), a DHCP / Manual badge, and a DEFAULT badge on the default-route interface.

swift test                       # unit tests (headline, masking, parsing, classification)
swift Tools/make_icon.swift      # regenerate IPBar.iconset, then:
iconutil -c icns IPBar.iconset -o IPBar.icns
./Tools/package_dmg.sh           # build IPBar.dmg (prints notarization steps)

History is stored in UserDefaults (key ip_history) as a JSON array, capped at 100 entries:

{ "date": "2026-06-05T16:00:00Z", "publicIPv4": "203.0.113.10",
  "hostname": "example.net", "summary": "Wi-Fi 192.168.1.176" }

No data ever leaves the machine except the public-IP lookup (api.ipify.org / icanhazip.com for the address; ipwho.is / ipinfo.io for country + ISP).

Builds are signed with a local Apple Development identity when one is present, otherwise ad-hoc (codesign --sign -). Either way they run on the machine that built them but trip Gatekeeper on other Macs.

To hand the DMG to someone else without the "unidentified developer" warning, notarize it with an Apple Developer ID Application certificate (paid Apple Developer Program). Tools/package_dmg.sh automates this when a Developer ID cert is installed and notary credentials are exported:

export NOTARY_APPLE_ID="[email protected]"
export NOTARY_TEAM_ID="TEAMID"
export NOTARY_PASSWORD="app-specific-password"
./Tools/package_dmg.sh        # signs (hardened runtime) + notarizes + staples

Without a Developer ID, recipients can still open the app once via right-click → Open (or System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway).

MIT © NonBytes